Babar Azam joins elite company

Pakistan’s emerging talent Babar Azam has joined the illustrious company of Sir Viv Richards, Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Quinton de Kock by becoming the joint-fastest man to score 1000 runs in ODI cricket.

Azam’s composed innings of 84 in the third ODI against Australia at the WACA – although it ended in a losing cause – meant he completed his career 1000 runs in just 21 innings, leveling one of the ODI cricket’s oldest records

He reached this milestone when he was batting on 47 not out in Perth today, the 21 innings of his ODI career.

Babar Azam started the VB ODI series against Australia requiring another 114 runs in the next two innings to do it faster than anyone else (20 innings), but he did manage to level the record if not break it, which is still a remarkable personal feat for anyone to have.

“I’m aware of the record, but I’m putting emphasis on the performances of my team,” Azam told cricket.com.au

“For Pakistan to do well in the ODIs, that’s my first priority.

“The Test series was difficult and I didn’t get an opportunity to score a lot of runs, so this practice match was good for me to spend time in the middle.

“I’m grateful that I got an opportunity today to do better.”

Azam has been a regular part of Pakistan ODI side since his debut against Zimbabwe in 2015 and had played a handful of promising knocks before he enjoyed a breakout series against West Indies last October – amassed scores of 120, 123 and 117 in the space of eight days to announce himself to the international arena.

The record for the fastest to 2000 runs is held by Hashim Amla, with every milestone between 2000 and 6000 also credited to his name, and Sachin Tendulkar holding every record from 10,000 onwards.